Mama Lupita’s Orphanage

Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

Cycle of Life Project 2009

Sponsored by

Aquaponics and Earth Sustainable Living, Inc.

A Message from the President of Aquaponics & Earth Sustainable Living, Inc.

           It is our honor to present this wonderful project at Casa Hogar Elim (also called Mama Lupita’s Orphanage) in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. It has been a priveledge to partner in this most worth-while project.

We call this the “cycle of life aquaponics and earth project.”  We use Tilapia fish as our base component. The fish water is used for bioponics. The waste water is used for fertilizing raised-beds and earth gardens. We will teach the staff and orphans how to recycle almost everything and use it in the raised beds (they are soil-free). This includes waste paper, food scraps, etc. Then we will establish intensive-grow earth gardens (as seen at Epcot Center of Orlando) and small intensive drip irrigation. We will teach how the soil can be built up in order to produce twice the amounts of crops in a smaller area.

This system is very popular. Within a 45-day period we had representatives visit the AESL farm from all around the world, including: India, Ukraine, Pakistan, Nepal, Botswana, South Korea, Spain, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil, England, Jamaica, and even  representatives from the king of Zululand (South Africa). However, we wanted to build a learning center like ours nearer by. We desired to have this learning center in a location in Mexico so that it would be affordable to have our interns drive down to help, and so we could more easily monitor the progress.

As you will see, this is happening at the Casa Hogar Elim Orphanage  in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. We have calculated that about 40 jobs can come out of  our system. The children will be able to have vision for the future. Also, our learning center will introduce the children to large commercial farming systems. In time the children will become mentors to native leaders throughout Mexico at this hands-on learning center.

From the very first time I saw the little children, tears of joy flooded from my eyes. Many of the children are so excited to get involved and have already worked many long hours preparing for the cycle of life aquaponics and earth project. We know that this system will be a real help to them.

-John Musser 

Phase 1: Preparation

Visiting the Orphanage

Our first visit to the orphanage was a beautiful experience in which we met all the wonderful orphans (104 in total!). We were later to find that the orphanage was falling behind their bills nearly $3,000 a month.

A plan began to formulate in our minds of how the junk yard at Mama Lupita’s Orphanage could be converted into both an educational program for the orphans and also an opportunity to easily recover the expense deficit.

The Plan

After one full day of observing the site, during a late-night meeting, we came up with a master plan to convert a wasted swimming pool and trash area into an Aquaponics and Earth system.

The plan was received immediately and later unanimously accepted by the U.S. Board of Directors.

John Musser with Noah and Charity Espinosa, who are both  fluent in Spanish, broke down the master plan in more simplistic terms for Mama Lupita, founder of the Orphanage.

Phase 2: Implementation

Getting Started!

In less than a week, Mama Lupita had executed the plans. The dilapidated swimming pool was transformed into three large tilapia tanks which can conservatively raise 18,000—20,000 fish annually.

We came up with an idea that enabled us to convert the pool into an aquaculture facility with a very minimal investment.  We removed the junk and trash from the yard to make composting areas that will be used to recycle the unused food and paper; this will be used to fill the grow-beds.

Progress

Mama Lupita immediately began to fill the compost piles to prepare it for the green grow-beds.

Under the direction of the U.S. division of Mama Lupita’s Orphanage, several teams have invested many hours into seeing this vision fulfilled. In the beginning, when planning with Mama Lupita, Aquaponics and Earth promised a 3-year commitment to getting their system running and profitable. Also, AESLI trained and sent out two interns to monitor all progress and be liaisons to the U.S. headquarters.

Phase 3: Support Staff

Our Support Team

After a year of training in our Dallas-area Aquaponics & Earth Training Center (headquarters), Tom and Rose Beshears have now made their residence at the Orphanage. They have had a fun time getting used to the flurry of activity there, and are busy setting up communications between Mexico and the USA.

Due to fever warnings (Swine Flu), we had to cancel two very important trips with work teams, which delayed our project almost two months. In the meantime, Tom and Rose continued to assess our Aquaponics and Earth project, communicating with us daily.

The Next Steps

TEAMS

            – The next team going down is Chris and Danlynn Engberg to assess the and build a siphoning system for the tanks and bio barrels. They have already gone down to build and install the three bio barrels for the large cement tanks.

            -  Juventino Palafox, Chris Engberg, and Gary Edwards (three of our interns from headquarters) recently went down  to install the underground water storage tank. It was a very successful trip.

            – Max Fincher and a team will be building structural covers over the tanks and piping for water evacuation.

            – An Aquaponics & Earth team will be going to down to paint the inside of the tanks with aquatic paint, set up degassing units, install pumps and aeration.

You may request additional information by contacting us at:

president@aquaponicsandearth.org or by calling 972-274-0828.